The Mechanical Monsters was the second in a series of Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer/Famous Studios in the early 1940s. The Last Mechanical Monster is a webcomic by Brian Fies* that is a sequel of sorts (starting here, with a recap of the cartoon here), set over 60 years later as the now-elderly inventor defeated by Superman is released from prison and returns to his old lair and his old tricks... reconstructing one of his 'monster' robots (and with no Man of Steel in sight).

My sculptures are invented only to sustain themselves, functioning as self-resolving problems. The result is an object that has been invented only to compensate for the complications created by its own existence. The piece alone represents the need and the resolution.

Steve Durnin's D-Drive is a fascinating new infinitely-variable transmission that doesn't use friction components or a clutch of any kind. Video of a prototype with detailed explanations is included.
posted by odinsdream
on May 15, 2010 -
44 comments

I've never really had a clear understanding of how mechanical computing worked, until today when I watched these US Navy training films from 1953. Part 1 focuses on shafts, gears, cams and differentials. Part 2 explains mechanical component solvers, integrators and multipliers. More information about ship gun fire-control systems here.
posted by drmanhattan
on Feb 14, 2010 -
28 comments

Complete simple tasks that people do better than computers. And, get paid for it. In 1769, Hungarian nobleman Wolfgang von Kempelen astonished Europe by building a mechanical chess-playing automaton that defeated nearly every opponent it faced. A life-sized wooden mannequin, adorned with a fur-trimmed robe and a turban, Kempelen’s "Turk" was seated behind a cabinet and toured Europe confounding such brilliant challengers as Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. Excuse me? Ah, yes. The Mechanical Turk, by Amazon.
posted by nitsuj
on Nov 3, 2005 -
37 comments

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